US, UK urge action against Syria over Hariri murder

The United States and Britain ratcheted up pressure on Syria yesterday, saying a UN probe implicating it in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri was "very serious" and the world must act.

Washington is already trying to arrange a quick, high-level UN Security Council meeting to consider a response to the inquiry that named senior Syrian officials as suspects in the February truck bombing that killed Mr Hariri and 20 others.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told BBC Television in a joint interview the investigation strongly implicated Syria and indicated attempts at a cover-up.

"I am quite sure that when the international community gets together we will decide what to do but it can't be... left lying on the table," Ms Rice said. "This really has to be dealt with."

The UN report found last week the decision to kill Mr Hariri "could not have been taken without the approval of top-ranked Syrian security officials" colluding with officials in Lebanon.

It named senior Syrian security officials, including Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's brother and brother-in-law, and their Lebanese allies, as suspects in the murder that transformed Lebanon's political landscape.

Syrian officials have dismissed the report as political and said the charges were false but left the door open for future cooperation with the probe, saying it might agree to allow investigators to return to Damascus to quiz Syrian officials.

Mr Straw said: "The report indicates that people of a high level of this Syrian regime were implicated."

He added: "We also have evidence from the... report of false testimony being given by senior people in the regime. This is very serious."

Mr Straw said on Friday UN Security Council members would consider sanctions, but acknowledged the West had to work to win support from all members for its pressure on Damascus.

The report said the Syrian authorities, after initially hesitating to help, had cooperated "to a limited degree", but several individuals had tried to mislead investigators "by giving false or inaccurate statements".

Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem denied yesterday accusations in the report that he had threatened Mr Hariri two weeks before his assassination.

"This is completely untrue. I did not go to Prime Minister Hariri to make threats," he said. "I went to tell him about my mission and ask him to cooperate in order for the mission to succeed," he told Syrian state television, without elaborating.

The report said Mr Moualem had avoided giving direct answers to questions and lied to investigators when he described a meeting with Mr Hariri on February 1 as "friendly and constructive". It includes part of a recording of the meeting in which Mr Moualem told Mr Hariri: "We and the [security] services here have put you into a corner" and "please do not take things lightly".

Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a prominent critic of Syria, urged Mr Assad yesterday to cooperate with the inquiry and backed a call from Saad al-Hariri, the son of the slain former premier, for an international tribunal to try the suspects.

"If I have any advice to give to the Syrian President it is to cooperate for the sake of the investigation or for the sake of uncovering the truth," said Mr Jumblatt, at the forefront of a campaign that forced Syria relinquish its domination of Lebanon.

"Our aim is for the investigation to continue on the domestic Lebanese side and internationally because the Lebanese courts, under the agreements between Lebanon and Syria, cannot question Syrian suspects in Lebanon," he said.

"If necessary we will seek the establishment an international trial." UN chief Kofi Annan has already extended the probe, which suggests no strong action will be taken until it ends on December 15.